Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Getting ready for my friend Pomp to hand the mic to Mike Tomlin. Cam Hayward, I was just mentioning him from PFF. Pro Football Focus is just on a heater right now. Three-game winning streak, two sacks, a QB hit in 14 hurries. So he leads all interior linemen in the NFL in terms of their grade at PFF at 82-3. He's having a hell of a year. What will Tomlin say about DK Metcalf?
Well, we're going to find out momentarily. I don't have a guess, really.
Chapter 2: How does Tomlin assess the performance of Cam Hayward?
I'm very curious to hear it. I think the suspension is going to get reduced, but that's just my opinion, to one game. So that'll be a focal point. I'm sure he'll be asked hypotheticals that he won't answer and shouldn't answer, really. There is no answer yet about what he would do if the Ravens won on Saturday night. But the question still needs to be asked and probably will.
And right now, it's just other than the Metcalf thing, it's pretty much good news. T.J. Watt, going to be asked about him. Is he going to practice this week? This is the most fascinating Tomlin news conference of the year. Would you agree, Sean? Yeah, maybe even a question about Will Hallard. Then why is Bob stalling? Why is Pompeiani stealing the mic from him? That's a good question.
It's almost 12.03, which means that Tomlin should be on. but of course Bob wants the camera. So TJ is a mystery and remains a mystery.
Chapter 3: What are Mike Tomlin's thoughts on DK Metcalf's situation?
The last real thing of substance we saw was Adam Schefter's tweet the other day saying it's still quote murky. And we don't know when we're going to see him. Now, TJ was at the facility last week. The key question is, is he going to practice? Do you expect him to play? I don't think he would play before the post season. No, but it's got to be asked today. Um,
And then with the Metcalf thing, you know, have you spoken to DK? What did he say happened? What do you expect the league to do? Are you in touch with all that stuff with Roger Goodell? I don't know, but that's bound to come up for sure. In fact, that'll come up first. I don't know if he'll address it unsolicited or not. We're waiting on some other injured guys. Nick Herbig is one of them.
And then we're going to hear him pontificate about the Cleve Brownies and about Shador Sanders and company. He should just skip that this week. He should just say, you know what? Usually I address the other team, but it's only Cleveland. So I'm just going to go straight. That'd be a great strategy. I'm going to go straight to your questions. What do you want me to say?
He's going to talk about Miles Garrett. Maybe here he is. Good afternoon. As always, I'll start with a brief synopsis, if you will, of the last performance. And there certainly was a lot of significant things that transpired in that game. And it's just good to win games like that.
I just think there's individual and collective growth when you come through the other side of tough circumstances like that. And certainly there were a lot in the game. You know, a lot's been written and said about the spectacular play, for example, by Kenny Gainwell that allowed us to go into the halftime tied 10 to 10. And certainly it was a spectacular play.
But when I think about that possession, I think about those converted third downs. The first one by Pat Frymuth, I think on third down and 10. And then I think there were two more by Adam Thielen that were third down and 10, third down and 11 like conversions. And to be quite honest with you, if we don't make those conversions, you don't get to hear about the quality play that Kenny made.
And certainly, probably equally as important, we punt the ball away and they're probably coming back. at us with an attempt or opportunity to extend the lead prior to the half. And so certainly the Kenny play was significant, but the whole sequence, those third down and 10, third down and 11 conversions that preceded it were equally as significant for a lot of reasons.
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Chapter 4: What updates does Tomlin provide about T.J. Watt's status?
And it's just good to to rise up in moments like that as a collective. And I just think it's important that we recognize it. That's why we came together yesterday, man, to really analyze this tape and void the victory Monday, if you will. Cuz it was just so much growth and so many things to lay to bed and gain an understanding of and appreciate.
Because we gotta do more of that as the road gets narrow, certainly. I thought situational football was big. We won a tight red zone sequence there early in the game. We certainly knew that Detroit is an aggressive group, particularly early in the game in that area in the search for seven points. I thought that sequence of events where we stood up and And one net sequence was big.
I thought equally as important was the backed up offense that followed. We didn't produce a scoring drive, but we had an earned first down. And it's so significant to get earned first downs when you're backed up. It gives you room to operate, it minimizes the potential of a subsequent score if you punt the ball away.
I think on that third down we hit Calvin Austin on our sideline and that was big. By the same token, I thought we did a really good job and backed up defense. When we did turn the ball over with Darnell going in, our defense took the field and stymied their running game. And then on third down, we got a sack by Kyle Duggar that was significant. And so we played really good backed up offense.
We played really good backed up defense in those examples. And certainly just a no-blank component in our collective at the end of the game on the short field and just fighting down in and down out. It certainly wasn't easy. We absorbed some penalties and so forth, but that's just a component of play.
I just think largely, man, our guys cut their eyelids off, man, and didn't blink and stayed in the fight. And sometimes staying in the fight is probably the biggest asset in your hip pocket. And so that's what I mean when I say there's growth there. From an injury standpoint, we got a laundry list of things going on here. James Pierre worked out this morning. We'll see where that leads us.
I'm sure he'll be limited and we'll follow his progress throughout the week. No new update on TJ. I'm sure he's been in the building, but I'll gain further information about his potential participation at the early portions of the week and where that might lead. Siamalo, same thing, no update there. Nick Herbeck is looking optimistic in terms of game availability.
He certainly will be limited in the early portions of the week. Some in-game things that happened, Brandon Echols, what is growing, don't know where that is, certainly hopeful. We're certainly thin in the secondary, but that's life this time of year. We'll see where his participation might pick up as we push through the week and thus his availability.
Jalen Warren should be limited at the early portions of the week, Spencer Anderson likewise, but we're optimistic that both guys will be available to us. As always, we'll do what's appropriate in terms of working hard and smart in an effort to get these guys and others to the stadium ready mentally and certainly in the best physical shape that we can get them in, in an effort to do so.
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Chapter 5: How does Tomlin view the importance of situational football?
Roquan had those responsibilities. And so it's my job as a leader, man, to help guys grow where necessary and certainly identified that as a space of growth for him. And it's really got nothing to do with playing. It's about absorbing the responsibility or the informal responsibility that comes with being defensive quarterback. And to his credit, man, he's not been resistant to it in any way.
He's embraced the challenges, and I'm pretty transparent in challenging him in that way. But it's been a fun process. I like being a part of someone's individual growth and development, particularly the development of a leader. Because there's benefit for him, there's benefit for the collective when you pour into that.
How have you seen that leading to an increased performance from your defense, seeing that improvement? I think I could point to a lot of things that's a component of that. We've established some more stability within the unit over this journey. We absorbed a lot of attrition. We acquired new players that weren't with us in training camp, etc. And so to attribute that would be a stretch.
There's many variables and many layers to that discussion. Mike, if you find out Saturday night that the game against the Browns doesn't mean anything in terms of the division title, Will it alter any last-minute decisions on personnel? You know, it may. I hadn't thought about it at all. To be quite honest with you, I just found out this morning that that game is Saturday night.
I just learned to be tunnel vision over the years. But as I sit here and make plans today for tomorrow in the effort to lay a foundation to engineer victory, That's something that's a very little relevance to me today. I have plenty of time to ponder those things after we get a little bit more solid about preparing ourselves to play the Cleveland Browns.
Mike, you have some significant milestones either approached or coming up. Any thoughts? None. It's about this journey with this group. I'm doing a disrespect to this journey and these guys that I'm fortunate enough to lead and work with if I view it any other way. I'm appreciative of some of those things.
It's been a blessing, but really of no relevance as I stand here today, man, leaning in on this Cleveland Browns opportunity this week. It's just so many people in this collective that that it doesn't apply to. And this football being what it is, it's the ultimate team game. I better display that focus. Dylan Cook to get some help if Miles Garrett's on the other side.
And how much help has he been getting in these last few years? Everybody gets help because Miles Garrett. I just finished watching San Francisco tape. Trent Williams got help. And so certainly he's going to get help. But certainly everybody has gotten help. And it had to slow down the train. He still has got 22 sacks. I imagine most of those are not one-on-one plays.
And so we're going to do our due diligence. But we're not going to act like or pretend that we're reinventing the wheel here. We better put schematics around him. He better play well. And we better stay out of one-dimensional passing circumstances. And you still might not stop the bomb from going off. That's been how impactful this guy's play has been this year. It does not matter.
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Chapter 6: How does Tomlin address the team's injury concerns?
We're able to scout crews and understand their personalities, the things that they call, the things that they don't call, and prepare during the course of the week accordingly. Mike, what is it about Ben Skoranek that has made him such a good special teams player and gutter? And was that tackle in Detroit an example of why he is a pro ball player? He cares a lot. He cares hard.
He's really talented. He's a football player first. And what I mean by that, he's a wide out who is a very good tackler. In the same ways that Kenny Gainwell is a running back who is a very good tackler. And you just always love doing business with guys like that. They provide value.
In other ways, other than getting the ball, really enjoying our experience with Ben, it feels a lot like Darius Haywood Bay. And we had some significant years with him as a wide receiver who was really special teams capable and had passion in that space and knowledge and expertise in that space and enjoyed tackling. Talking about the injuries, I don't think you mentioned Calvin Austin.
Is there an update on his hamstring? I don't have one. I acknowledge that it is there, but I don't know if he was in the building yet or where that might be in terms of his participation or non-participation tomorrow and thus forward, and I'm sorry I forgot that. So you're pitching to the collective on defense, especially this being his first start and the effort that he put in to run defense.
When given an opportunity, man, Jack continues to prove that he belongs. But that's what we loved about his profile, to be quite honest with you. He's not a guy that runs from it. He's a guy that runs to it. He's got unbelievable belief in self for a young guy. He's made some plays already. He had a sack going into the game, an interception.
He makes a lot of plays on special teams, and oftentimes a young guy that's not getting a lot of defensive opportunity, that's the first space that they show the capabilities, and he's done that. And so I don't think any of us are surprised by his willingness and ability to be a positive contributor to us. Just that's what we expect from him.
What do you feel about the collective of young players that you guys have been amassing on defense? Guys like Keanu in his third year, Jack as a rookie, Harmon as a rookie, Black as a rookie. You guys seem to have a lot of young guys that are pitching in and learning how to fit in. It's been needed, particularly up front, as I mentioned.
We've absorbed a lot of attrition during the course of this thing. Dean Lowry, Dan, Loudermilk. One man's misfortune is another guy's opportunity, and We did the right thing, man, fortifying depths with those bigs, dating back to last spring, acquiring those two young men via the draft, and to go along with Jack Sawyer. It's certainly been needed. Anyone else?
If you clinch the division, do you plan on resting guys in Week 18, and what does that mean? I haven't contemplated the ramifications of Saturday's game, so you know I hadn't pondered that. What is the value of Spencer Anderson and all the different things he can do? And how unique is it to have a guy that can go guard, tackle, fullback?
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Chapter 7: What strategies does Tomlin plan for the upcoming game against Cleveland?
And it didn't seem to be that way at all from the video I saw. It was the guy talking to DK. Then DK starts to make his way over. And he says something to a security person dressed in police like gear. And the person just lets him go after they have. I don't know what that conversation was. And then that person, the security person, just sort of backed off and observed everything.
And then there was another security person in a red shirt that said security. Another security person who did nothing but watch like he was a fan. I'm sorry, but if I'm a player, first of all, or a coach in that environment, I wouldn't be happy with the security to start out with. Like, what are we doing here? Anything could happen at any time in an environment like this in pro sports.
You know what I mean? Go ask Monica Sellis about that. when she was attacked on the tennis court. What are we doing? Nobody is standing there vigilantly protecting players from fans, at least having a watch the whole game. It didn't look like it. And if they were, they didn't do anything when a player started to approach the crowd.
At the highest level, which the NFL obviously is, you would think that they would have to have security there If nothing else, even if they're not intervening necessarily from a physical aspect so that they could be someone who can maybe convey what they heard in the exchange. Right. So it's not a he said, he said with a fan and a player.
They have someone who's an arbitrator there to make sure the verbal exchange doesn't get out of hand. I agree with you. You would think that that is something that should be universal at every stadium in the NFL. Each team could bring their own security. Whoa, where are you going? Right? That's what you need to say to DK. Really? Like, where are you going? What's up?
And a security guard, if Metcalf is going to go over there, should be stride for stride with him, kind of getting in between, just so that if the fan does try to throw something, for instance, it's not hitting a player. Right. Yeah. In the end, and that doesn't absolve Metcalf, and I don't think Mike Tomlin absolved him, I certainly don't condone the behavior.
That's the money line from that news conference, pretty clearly. So he's saying there, basically, no matter what was said, and I compare it again to Shaq Lawson, the Bills defensive end in Philly last year, said that a fan and his teammates corroborated
You know, it's still a he said he said thing, but his teammates said that a fan was using threatening language against players and their families. If I hear that, I'm very tempted, you know, to go and confront somebody. But is that I have to not do that. That that's the thing. I have to not do that. Now, Lawson went there and pushed a fan and the NFL didn't even find him a penny.
That was two years ago in November. Here we have a situation where Metcalf went and physically confronted a fan, and he's getting two games. Something seems very inconsistent about that, for sure. But in the end, I'm with Tomlin. I'm with James Harrison, even, believe it or not. And Joe Hayden, who both said, yeah, man, I would have been tempted to go beat that guy up. But you can't do it.
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